Elian Is the True Winner, Not Cuba

Article excerpt

Regarding your article "Big winner in Elian's case: Cuba" (April
24): I am somewhat disturbed by your paper's conclusion that Cuba
was the main beneficiary in Elian's return to his father.

First, your article could be read as implying that Castro's
interests are synonymous with those of the entire Cuban people.
Should the recent crisis over Elian lead to a more open US-Cuba
relationship, I doubt Castro or his regime will benefit from such a
change in the long run.

Second, and perhaps more importantly, is that Elianis perhaps the
"big winner" in the final resolution of this unfortunate
intrafamilial dispute. For children, the stability that can be
provided in their parents' home is the surest way toward healthy
development.That Elian and his father have been reunited is the best
possible outcome for this boy who has already been traumatized by
nearly drowning in the Florida Straits and the loss of his mother.

Michael D. Smith Milwaukee, Wis.

To count Castro and Cuba as winners in this is to succumb to the
politicization of a family matter, the same horrible mistake that
Lazaro Gonzalez and the exile community of Havana made, and that
caused so much havoc for Elian, for the government, and for the
country. This is not about communism against democracy. This is
about a little boy and his father.

If you think a little further into the future, how is Castro now
going to sound convincing if he wants to demonize the United States?
The US has done the right thing in Castro's eyes and in Cuba's eyes.
Castro will have a hard time convincing the Cuban people that the US
is evil, if he even tries. Castro has consolidated his power in the
past with invective against the US. That platform is now weakened.

Deborah Hayden Polson, Mont.

The dismal failure of the Clinton administration's efforts at a
peaceable reuniting of Elian Gonzalez with his father indicates, in
my mind, a lack of moral leadership and a failure of nerve. Force is
never an answer for cowardice. …